1 Kings 19 (Part 1) Bible Study (Elijah Flees Jezebel) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Kings chapter 19. We are cracking open a fresh chapter in our study of kings. And once you arrive there, we're going to read together, and the framework of our study is going to be the first eight verses of first Kings 19. Are you there with me? Let's read beginning in verse one.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, it is enough now, oh Lord.

Take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and laid down again.

And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. Lord, as we sang, we now pray, may the spirit of holiness descend upon us. And we ask, Lord, that these truths that we will study together would genuinely, experientially fortify our faith, and that we would sense a wisdom imparted, a joy erupting. Lord, that we would leave here as we've prayed already, a changed people.

So may the hammer of the word, may the fire of the word, may the water of the word do what only the word can do in our lives. Lord, we even give what may be a stubborn heart tonight, and we ask that you deal with it accordingly. Lord, we need your help, and we know that our help is in your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let me remind you of what James told us in the fifth chapter of his epistle concerning this man who has been the object of our study the past few weeks. We're told there in James five seventeen that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And we may be grateful for a commentary about such a superb servant of God. It grounds him. Does it not to know that he was human?

Because he doesn't seem human. And though that is an anchoring statement about this man, you can still be a person who fails to relate to him. Especially after carefully studying him like we have been in the past few weeks. Why? Because up to this point, what we've discovered about Elijah that he almost has, like, this flawless track record.

And his obedience and his servants service and his faith and his courage almost feels like it towers in comparison to what may be fragmented and inconsistent on our part concerning our devotion to the Lord. But listen, anytime you encounter any person of the scripture, especially if they're exemplary in their faith, that is not meant to discourage you, that is not meant to cause you to feel deflated. It's the opposite. God preserves such testimonies to invigorate you and to inspire you and to cause you to see that God has provided us real people to show us, yes, they might be unique in terms of where they're placed in redemptive history and their gifting and their callings, but that the general reality of faithfulness is possible. So if it's possible for them, surely it's possible for me, I can pursue and secure greater holiness and godliness, and joy, and witness, and devotion to the Lord.

But from time to time, you know what else the Bible does? You know it very well because you're students of the word of God. The Holy Spirit will give us a more complete profile of some of these champions of the faith. And what I mean by that is you get a more honest look into who they are, and it really testifies to the validity of the authorship of this of this book. So we come to certain people, including Elijah in this chapter, and you get really this humbling snapshot of a certain season of their life.

Because what you're not gonna discover as we already read is that the same man who stood before false prophets and an unbelieving nation and adversities and trials that would make any average person crumble within seconds of being placed in such a circumstance, in such a short sequence is gonna be overcome by paralyzing fear and surprising disorientation, and with it devastating discouragement. You're almost gonna as you study this, feel like this can't be the same Elijah of chapter eighteen and seventeen, but it is. It is. And the encouragement there is that what we're going to see with this man at this point is that even the greatest in the kingdom of God are susceptible to being ensnared by the same spiritual traps that you and I try to dodge every single day. And we look here together and realize that a purpose, major purpose for a text like this is not to give you permission to fail or to remain in a state of defeat, But to be merciful to those who are and to be equipped to avoid the same ensnarements that are capable of capturing the most unlikely like Elijah.

So that's really gonna be the core truth of our study today. We're gonna look at a man who experienced despondency, heaviness of heart. You can call it different things. A common phrase is spiritual depression. And there are gonna be, orbiting truths around that core truth that are gonna supplement our teaching today, and that includes what we read in verse one.

Let's look at it again. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. I hope you're attentive at bible study tonight because I'm gonna ask you a question right at verse one. What stands out to you about Ahab's report to his wife Jezebel concerning the events that took place on Mount Carmel? Let me give you a hint.

Something is omitted. Very good. Notice again that he says Ahab told Jezebel all that who had done? Elijah. Where's god in this?

He's not there. Is that typical of Ahab? Oh, yes. It is very typical of Ahab. The same man who did not include the lord in his doing and his work on that mountaintop is the same man who failed to see God behind the three year drought and pointed a finger at a man like him in terms of nature and said, you're the troubler of Israel.

Remember we looked at that? Not maybe putting into the equation that God was the one who was suspending rain. And so this is a man who had the inability to realize and to acknowledge God as he deserved. And even in his testimonial to his wife, he doesn't include God. He doesn't mention God.

Even though it's raining right outside of their palace, it it doesn't even dawn on him to mention how God was the one who answered by fire. God was the one who provided this supernatural grace. And right here, Ahab's perspective shows us as a reminder that there are so many, listen, that you know, that I know that are unwilling to acknowledge the Lord and to include him in their interpretation of life's events, of life itself. And men of the flesh are as such. They, like Ahab, prone to comment on life, describe life, define aspects of life void of God's authorship fingerprint and sovereignty.

And so it's about Elijah, and it's about how he killed these prophets. And notice that Ahab, no matter what God did to Ahab, no matter what God did for Ahab, what do we see here? He is highly capable of dismissing him so that he can remain in his state of unbelief. So what did God do to Ahab before unbelief. So what did God do to Ahab before he did something for Ahab?

He shriveled up the land and caused the people to suffer a famine. Did he repent then? No. And what does he do for Ahab? He gives rain when he doesn't deserve it.

Instead of sending fire on him and all the flimsy Israelites, he consumes a sacrifice. And on top of that, through that act of judgment, an act of mercy follows. And what does Ahab do as we are introduced to him again in this chapter? Does he repent? No.

He's trying to instigate and stir up his wife into action and not repented action, by the way. What does that teach us? Again, a truth that you see over and over again, whether God disciplines a man or blesses that man, men in their sinful nature are highly capable and very willing to dismiss the Lord so that they can remain in their darkness. Ahab is no different. And this is a sad testimony that many imitate.

And if Ahab's poor response isn't bad enough, now we come to his wife's reaction, rageful reaction, may I add. What does she do here? She acts as the true ruler of Israel. Ahab is just a puppet. Is it possible for people to be in high positions really as puppets when there's fingers working in the background?

I won't say more than that. No different here. What does she do? She issues a death warrant for this man of god. And when we look at this, you think this is strange.

Why? Because we learn in the last verse of chapter 18 of the whereabouts of Elijah. Where is Elijah? He's at the entrance of Jezreel. Where the palace of this notorious couple abides, Elijah is just really a few feet away, you can say.

He's not too far at least. And so here's this woman who is venting and expressing and even puts it as a mandate that Elijah is going to be killed within twenty four hours. You know why I find that interesting? If she wanted to kill him, why forward a messenger and inform the one that you're trying to kill? If if Jezebel, if you really wanna destroy the man, why don't you send a platoon instead?

Why don't you why don't you designate at least 200 of your remaining prophets to finish the job? That's not what we see. She warns Elijah. She gives him a heads up. Is this is this strange?

Okay. Is this an empty threat? Maybe some would say so. I don't think this is an empty threat. Can I tell you why?

Let me remind you. Go to first Kings 18 and look at verse 13. Notice what is said here about Jezebel's history. Has it not been told, my lord, what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the lord? How I hid a 100 men of the lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?

I'm no detective. K? But if someone has a resume of killing the prophets of the lord, and she tells you, a prophet of the Lord, that she's planning to kill you, high chances that she really means it. So this is not just her blowing smoke. This is not her just using words.

This is her saying exactly what she is going to do because she's done it before. And yet, you would think again that a murderer would not give their prey a heads up, lest they evade the situation or they prepare for the attack. You would think they would just go for it. So there is no doubt that Jezebel is doing this for a particular reason, and I think there are two reasons for it. The first is from a human standpoint.

The the second is a divine standpoint. Do you think Jezebel was happy when she heard that her prophets were killed by Elijah? You think she was indifferent? No. I believe that even what we see here in verse two is just a glimpse of the unhinged fury.

I know she was human, but I wonder if there's smoke that came out of her nose and ears. The this woman is obviously enraged. And so enraged. She says she's willing to and she's convinced to murdering a true messenger of God even after displaying indisputable power from on high. And you look at this woman, you think, okay.

But what is she why is she doing this? Because unfettered temper makes us foolish. You've probably seen that growing up in the family that you're in. Somebody who is enslaved by rage. When somebody lives with anger and does not subdue it by the power of the Holy Spirit, they think foolishly and they act foolishly, do they not?

Do they blow things out of proportion? Do they run to solutions that really end up doing more harm? There's a verse in Proverbs fourteen twenty nine, and the last part of it says this. It says, but he who has hasty temper exalts folly. He who has an this is how the ESV puts it.

He who has hasty a hasty temper exalts folly. You magnify foolishness, stupidity when you are a slave to temper. Here's this woman who evidently does not bear any fruit of the Holy Spirit, and what we see here is evidence of the consequences of sin, even if that sin is an attitude problem, a failure to be able to control yourself and to register what's taking place and to think critically and logically and calmly. But there's a divine element to this. And I believe it's God's providence working in favor for his servants, because it could have been where Elijah being in that vulnerable place where he was surrounded within seconds, within minutes, but God allowed for Jezebel to disclose and expose herself, to give his servant a heads up.

Do you not see that in different parts of the scripture? When something evil is being planned against the righteous, God makes it known. I won't take time to talk about that because we have a lot to cover. But as terrifying as it might be to learn that a queen has called for your head, you would think that Elijah would feel some gratitude and relief knowing this has been made known to me. Now I can deal with it accordingly.

Thank you, God, for providentially working in my favor. Is that how Elijah responds to this news? Look at it again in verse two and three. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also, if I did not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life.

And came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there. You're talking about a man who was in the northern tribes and descended and went and migrated all the way to the Southern Kingdom. That's a long journey. That's a long journey on foot. And so you and I have to take something into consideration.

Right? Because the average person who learned that in the neighborhood you're in, that somebody with the authority as the queen did is calling for your death. What what do you do if you learn somebody's trying to kill you? Bye. It's not really deep, is it?

I'm out of here. So some would be hesitant to criticize Elijah. But here's the thing, when we study this man who we we have been studying this man, we've seen a pattern of how his steps have been directed, and we have to take that into consideration. What did we see with Elijah when we were first introduced him in our study altogether? Look at first king 17 once more, where he confronts Ahab, and we see this in verse two of first king 17.

And the word of the Lord came to him. That's it right there. And the word of the Lord came to him and told him what? Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the by the Brokareth, which is East Of The Jordan. And this is not an isolated place where Elijah has been instructed by the word of the Lord for his next step.

Now we know it was in every step, but for critical steps, he received direct guidance from the mouth of God. And when we we look at that pattern, we should be able to now look here and think, is there something being broken here? Is Elijah stepping outside of what he once knew? And I am under the persuasion that he is. He did not give time for the word of the lord to come to him, nor did he show anything, at least at this point, of desperate inquiry to know what god would have him do.

Think about it this way. We ended our study last time that after the incident in Mark Carmel, he tells Ahab to go to Jezreel, and the hand of the Lord comes upon Elijah, and he runs ahead, beats Ahab, runs before the chariot, and he comes here. So even the hand of the Lord enabled Elijah to arrive at this very spot. This threat comes and he goes, I'm out of here. But where is the divine permission?

Where is the the voice of the Lord telling him to do such a thing? It's absent altogether. And this seems to be so out of character for this man because it is. Teaching us that listen. This is this is the main point of the study now.

Any of us can succumb to a despair that will drive you to dangerous places. Now now we've come to the main element of our study. Elijah here, for the rest of this chapter, I want us through the elements provided here, consider the very things that will make a true follower of Jesus Christ vulnerable as Elijah was here with his faith. And it's all found in the verses that we read together. More specifically, I wanna speak to you about four ingredients.

Four ingredients that will weaken us, that will encourage us to surrender our stabilizing peace, and ultimately will cause us to walk away from what the Lord has prepared for us due to despair due to despair. And be mindful that you don't need all four of these failures to come to that place. You only need one. So the the four things that we're gonna mention here, all you need is one. One of these things is heavy enough to cause you to act like Elijah is acting in this place.

But in Elijah's case, he was overcome by all these things. So be ready to be equipped now. If you wanna know longevity, if you wanna know how to overcome what Elijah experienced what did Elijah experienced by the way? After great victory came intense attack. And that's a pattern you see in the bible as well.

So he brings about a great victory for God's name before a nation, and right away, there was the vomiting of, a belching from the very mouth of hell through one of hell's favorite servants of this time, Jezebel. Let's consider four things. Again, four things that will cause despondency, spiritual depression, debilitation, call it what you will, that which will have you living in fear, living in a state of gloominess that will paralyze your walk with the Lord, that will cause you to eject from your ministry, that will cause you to dim your witness, that will cause you to well, let's see what happens. The first thing that you and I have to be mindful of, if we want to evade the terrible place that Elijah was in, do not lose sight of who God is. Do not lose sight of who God is.

That that seems to be quite obvious as a general principle, but it's further confirmed in Elijah's case when you compare him as a prophet dealing with royal rebellion and hostility with another prophet who also had to deal with his own case of a rageful royal individual that was after him. There are many prophets in the bible, but this is one of the prominent ones. Can anybody guess which one I'm thinking of? I didn't give much evidence to work with, but let's ask anyway. Any other prophet that you can think of who had to deal with a ruler that threatened him, endangered him?

Jeremiah is a good one, but that's not the one I'm speaking of. Yes? Daniel. Daniel is a very good one as well, but that's not the one I think about. You're not wrong in these answers, but Moses.

Moses. Moshe. Go to Hebrews 11 with me. Hebrews 11. I want you to look at verse 26.

Because in this are you and I gonna find the insight, I believe, into Elijah's fault. Hebrews eleven twenty six. This is a New Testament commentary about the faith of this man, Moses. It says here, he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Put the brakes on.

Yeah? Do you see that? He considered the reproach of Christ. What does that tell you? It tells you that based on the scripture, Moses had a revelation of Christ.

Even back in the Exodus, Moses had a revelation of Christ because Hebrews tells us that he did not consider the reproach of Christ. But notice that he was able to reject the worldly promises and pleasures of Egypt for one simple reason, because he was looking to the reward. So this man not only had a revelation of Christ, but he had an eternal perspective, and that gave him the strength to be able to bulldoze through all the transient trinkets that were shining before him to the degree that he was willing to embrace suffering for righteousness. I mean, he had everything going for him. He was adopted into the royal family, the education that ACTS tells us he had, the opportunities that he had, the security, the comfort, the luxury, and he was willing to say, I want none of that because I know God's called me to this.

And if it's gonna come a reproach, so be it because my eyes are looking to a reward beyond this life. But that's not the only thing that his eyes were set on. Look at verse 27. By faith, he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king. Was Elijah afraid of the anger of the queen?

Yes. Elijah was, Moses wasn't. Not afraid of the anger of the king. Why? What was the secret?

The next part, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. So not only did this man have a eternal perspective in terms of reward, he had a perspective in terms of sovereignty. The one who I can't see visibly, the one who I know of, the one who's revealed himself to me is greater than pharaoh. And he is so much greater than them that I am not afraid of those threats that he presents to me, that he makes towards me. That was what Elijah was missing.

And here's what that teaches us, because Elijah just moments ago experienced fire coming down from heaven, him praying and God answering it. Him not just that his testimony goes deeper than that. So why is it that when Jezebel threatened him, he acted in this way? Because you and I have to, every moment of our day, be conscious of who God is. Every moment of our day.

And when we fail in that discipline, in that meditation, in that contemplation, praying without ceasing, remaining in an attitude of prayer, communion with God at all times, fear is right there waiting to overtake you and master you and determine your steps. Even with the fear of the Lord, there's a proverb that says, fear the Lord always, implying that it's possible to fear the Lord sometimes. So Elijah, yeah, he had history with God, he had experience with God, but you can't afford to just, rely on that. In this very moment, as I'm about to have this appointment, as I'm waiting for this phone call, as I'm about to deal with this, whatever the case may be, I must be God conscience. And Moses had that grace and he had that discipline.

And if we do not, then, do not be surprised if fear is a frequent visitor. And more than that, if it abides in your heart. Losing sight of the sovereignty of God, the promises of God. You know, if Elijah understood who God was and he kept his word ever before him, it didn't matter what Jezebel said. But that's not the only thing that caused this despondency.

This thing is subtle, the next one. Number two, I hope you remember these things. Losing sight of god will lead you to that kind of trouble. Number two, separating ourselves from community. Look back at first Kings 19 verse three with me, and look at the last part, this interesting detail that the spirit offers us.

It says he was afraid. He arose and ran for his life, but notice this. He came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. Why is that in there? Like, is it important for us to know that Elijah abandoned his servant and went in isolation?

No. Every detail is important in the bible. And if we're not aware of that, then we miss out on points that can save us from much. So he abandons his servant there, and you would think that, this isn't important. It is important, but here's the question I wanna ask you.

Is this the first time we're introduced to Elijah's servant? Is it? Prove it. Prove it. Yes.

Very good. Go back to chapter 18, and this is when Elijah was praying for rain. And notice in verse 43 what is mentioned. It's as though the the spirit wants to inform us that Elijah separating himself from his servant shouldn't have happened. Look at first Kings eighteen forty three.

And he said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, there is nothing. And he said, go again seven times. And at the seventh time, he said, behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea. And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot, and go down, lest he rain lest the rain stop you.

So there's little mention about the serpent. We don't even know his name. He kinda, like, just appears on Mount Carmel, but, evidently, he was there the whole time. And the little that we know about him is enough to inform us that he was a man of faith. Can I tell you why?

Was it a smart thing, humanly speaking, to be associated with Elijah at this time? Probably not. Even king Ahab made the neighboring rulers make give a vow that they didn't know about the whereabouts of this Elijah. And here you have the servant willing to stand by this man who is public enemy number one. So there's something about him in terms of conviction, obviously.

And based on what we read, even those couple of verses, he was a genuine servant. He helped Elijah to some degree. So while Elijah was praying, here's his servant watching and looking for the answer. And when Elijah had to get Ahab going, he sends his servant to go. So this is a profitable person.

This is somebody who played an important role, at least in this chapter of Elijah's life. But when you come to this moment, this critical moment of Elijah's ministry, you get the sense that there's a partnership with this servant, and yet triggered by fear, he runs away. And the fear was so overwhelming that he leaves this man, and he isolates himself according to verse four. Look at verse four. But he himself he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree.

And what happened? He asked that he might die. You went from fear to not wanting to be put to death. You know what thought ran through my mind today when I was meditating on this servant? It makes me wonder if Elijah would have arrived at different conclusions if he had someone who served with him and witnessed what he witnessed with God and about God to sober him up, to remind him, to console him, to instruct him, and to redirect his misguided thoughts.

But you know what he does? Instead, he cuts himself off from that opportunity. And Christians, when they are troubled and isolate themselves in order to medicate their troubles, though isolation in some regard is helpful, we need to know how to be alone in some ways and to unburden our souls before God instead of man. That is important. But to isolate yourself to the degree where you distance your heart, your mind, your temptations, your trials from those whom God has designed with the purpose of alleviating and strengthening you, the Bible considers that foolishness.

Proverbs eighteen one. He who isolates himself seeks his own desire. Check this out. He breaks out against all sound judgment. He who isolates himself for whatever reason does not have continual relationships with the faithful.

Listen to this lang some translations and the original would say, he rages against all sound wisdom, like you're fighting against it. For the obvious reasons. Right? Isolation will invite harm because you cut yourself off from the blessings of God, check this out, that are exclusively reserved in the realm of relationships with others. When a Christian goes through a bad time or they're battling sin or whatever the case may be, one of my go to advices as they open their hearts about that is, whatever you do, don't stop coming to church.

Even if you have to pick your heavy legs off your bed and drag yourself to the meeting, wherever God's people are meeting, get there. You can't afford to isolate yourself now. And you would think that it only hurts the person who isn't hurting. No. It also hurts others.

You know what I thought about here? What happened to the servant who was left by himself? You know what some people believe about this servant? Tradition says that people believe that this servant was the widow's son from Zarephath. I think that's an interesting thought, don't you?

That after raising him from the dead and developing a relationship, he's like, alright. We're gonna go to Mount Carmel. Come with me. Whether that's true or not doesn't make a difference. But you have to also think about him.

He abandoned him. To what? For who? So agree with this, please, that Elijah's decision risked affecting the one that he walked away from. And if we're members of of the same body and a a member of that body, a part of that body decides to disconnect, the whole body feels it for many reasons.

Is it painful? And one of those reasons is we've been given the gifts and the wisdom and the charge to help those who are weak. Weakness is not an excuse for us to walk away. It's all the more the reason that we should throw ourselves at one another's feet. And so it's painful for everybody.

Isolation is devastating to the witness, to the spirit of God moving in the midst of a people who are called to be conjoined together together in all seasons of life. Elijah says, see you later. This boy is left to himself. He's left to himself. So, do you want to increase the chances of spiritual depression?

Walk this walk alone. Don't take your membership of the local church seriously. Keep it all inside and don't have one or two trusted people that you know love you so you can open your heart and be delivered from that despondency. Do it. That's not the only thing though.

Here's a third ingredient that we have to keep in mind. And, again, these things can be standalone problems and thorns if we're not careful. Being pessimistic. What is pessimism? It's a person who has a tendency to making the most negative conclusion or belief of the worst outcome out of a scenario.

That's a pessimistic person. You've probably met some such such people where no matter what problem arises, even if it's a good thing, they're like, oh, well, this can happen and and that can happen and, oh, no. What's gonna happen? And it's just like, we need to relax. Pessimism.

Magnifying the negative, like, as though it's a gift of the spirit and dismissing what God is doing in terms of the good and the fruitfulness of that same situation that you might be complaining about and woeing about and losing sleep about. Is Elijah showing signs of pessimism? Yes. He is. Look at verse four again.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat under a broom tree, and he asked that he might die saying, it is enough now, oh lord. Take away my life for I am no better than my father's. Do you see it? For I am no better than my fathers. Some debate about what he meant exactly by that, but I think it's pretty plain.

This is the language of performance. I'm no better. So he's self reflecting and evaluating, and he feels as though in comparison, he's not being effective, he's not being fruitful. He's not really much different than those in the past who have failed. You know why I find that so interesting?

Because a man like Elijah is confessing it. Elijah would be and is still is known as one of the most effective, incredible, remarkable prophets in all of redemptive history. And yet this man believes this about himself. Do you know why? If you consider the context, then you understand why he believed this because Jezebel and Ahab did not believe after so much was done in the god that Elijah represented and served.

That's all it took. It took the rejection, the strong rejection of one woman to spiral this man into a place in which he thought, I'm a no good prophet. Oh, never mind the whole nation getting on their face and saying, the lord, he is god. Oh, no. No.

No. No. No. No. One woman saying, I'm gonna kill you, which is not a code, but I don't want you or your god.

It's pretty simple. Right? And that that's what he's focusing on. That's that's what's gripped him. Not the miracles of the past, not God's faithfulness in the past, not again, thinking about the widow who says, you're you're the real deal.

You are a man of God. You are truly a prophet. Not that one woman who didn't show up to the meeting. And listen, if you are constantly focused on those who are not getting saved, on those who don't appreciate your ministry, on those, again, who don't show their faithfulness and the thing that you're passionate about, you are setting yourself up for short lived service to the Lord. Instead, look to what the Lord is doing.

Look to what God has done. Consider those who are being blessed. That has to be a discipline that you and I develop, lest we position ourselves to being prisoners of self pity. So ask God to deliver you from being pessimistic. But before you and I move on to our final point, I want you to consider something that is good about Elijah in this verse.

There's a lot that he doesn't do right, but there's one thing that we can applaud him for. What does he do in verse four? He does wanna die, but how is he expressing that? He's praying. He's praying.

He's praying, and he is, again, unburdening his soul before the Lord. And I can't help but include this in the pile of truths that you and I have accumulated about Elijah's prayer life and his praying because James says, hey. Look to this man who prayed in the way that he prayed. So let's rewind. When this man of prayer prayed for fire, what happened?

God gave fire. When this man of prayer prayed for rain, what happened? It rained. When this man of prayer prayed that God would kill him, what happened? God didn't answer.

And here's the thing, what's so fascinating, I mentioned this before, not only did he not answer, he did these guys opposite. Elijah would never die. He would never enter into the grave. He'd be transported into the heavenlies in a very unique fashion. And so add that to your insights about Elijah's praying.

We talked about Elijah praying for fire came immediately. It was miraculous. God could do miraculous things. Instantaneously even before you finish saying, amen, bring the fruit. And we look at the prayer life of Elijah in the rain where he prayed more than once and the answer did not come immediately.

That is true of our prayer lives and our experience of answered prayer. It doesn't happen right away. It can happen in a sequence of things. Here's another insight of prayer. You have many people ask, genuine people, out of a place of disappointment, even frustration, why doesn't God answer my prayers?

Can I tell you something? Here's my one of my favorite answers to that. There are different reasons for it, but have you ever factored this in? That one of the greatest blessings that God can do for your prayers is not answer them, is not give you what you've been asking for. No matter how passionate you are, no matter how certain you are in that moment, one of the greatest things that God can do for your prayers is not give you what you're praying for.

You have to believe that. And maybe only when we stand before the throne will we realize, oh, so thankful that you didn't answer that prayer. I've realized it in this life. So we see that another insight of this man's prayers that we should consider and put in the vault of our hearts. But there's one more thing that we have to look at concerning an ingredient for despondency, depression, spiritual depression at least, negligence of the need of our bodies.

Negligence of the needs for our bodies. Look look look at verse five again with me. And he laid down and slept unto under a broom tree, and behold an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. And he looked and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched them and said, arise and eat for the journey is too great for you. I I'm so happy that this is in the bible. I am so thankful that the lord included this unholy writ. You know what's so amazing about the verses that are the focus of our study tonight? It's not the end of the chapter.

You have verse nine, and I have to flip my page to realize that it goes down to verse 21 before we go to chapter 20. And you know what's happening between verse nine and verse 21? A dialogue between God and Elijah. A conversation between the master, the king of heaven, and one of his faithful servants. And in that conversation, God gives insight and instruction to this man of God.

But before God draws him away so that he can meet with him in a very spectacular fashion, he sees it necessary to feed him and to let him have a couple of naps. You wanna know the mind of God? Here's the mind of God. How many believers do you think associate spiritual depression with bodily deprivation? The Lord taking care of Elijah's physical state was a necessary nonnegotiable way of providing the remedy that he needed to be where he was supposed to be.

I know it doesn't sound spiritual. It doesn't sound very impressive, does it? But it's in the scriptures. Here's a biblical reference that stands as an everlasting reminder to you and I that to be careless with your body is a sure way of promising hindrance to your devotion to the Lord. For some, listen, what's needed to overcome sadness and no greater longevity in your joyful walk with Christ, you know what it is?

It's not another sermon, a better sleep schedule. Yeah? For those who are battling gloomy thoughts and they think they need prophetic, pastoral counsel. Counsel is good. It's important.

But in some cases, you know what you need? A better diet. You know, if you deal with counselors, one of the go to things that counselors will tell you, secular and nonsecular. Maybe you've experienced this. If you deal with anxiety or this or that, these patterns that are detrimental to your overall well-being, especially in your faith, this is what they'll ask you.

Do you regularly exercise? Wow. Right? No. No.

No. That's not the way it's supposed to be. You're supposed to tell me something, like, mystical, and you're supposed to just maybe do something where it just kind of evaporates from my life. God can do that. But what does God do for a servant here?

Does he wake him up and give him this discourse about faith, and does he does he sprinkle something supernatural on him? No. He says, get up and eat. Eat and drink. And he let him fall asleep, and then he came back and says, okay.

You don't understand how much you're actually needing this, and you don't understand what's coming. You're gonna need to eat and drink again. I know you wanna be spiritual. I know. I know.

We all wanna be spiritual. Never forget because you can't afford to forget that no matter how spiritual you want to be, you are confined to a body. And that body is subject to natural laws, and it requires stewardship for you to be careful in your nurturing, and and how you treat it and what you feed it. Because no matter how spiritual you are, if you don't honor that component of your existence, it's going to affect a measure of your in look and your outlook even in the lane of your spirituality. And so we come here and we realize that the Lord is prescribing something that we wouldn't consider in our fight against things that would weigh us down, things that are avoidable.

And, personally, when I have one of those days, if I can be vulnerable with you, not too vulnerable, I make a mental checklist because I'm aware of spiritual warfare. I'm aware that the enemy can whisper things in my mind. He can whisper things in your mind. But one of my go to primary reflections when I have those days, how has my sleep been this week? What's my diet been like the past full of handful days?

Did I did I put my muscles to work? I know. It like, you're like, this is bible study? Oh, it's so practical. Right?

Okay. You won't take my word for it. So let me give you the words of the prince of preacher. How about that? Here's Charles Spurgeon in one of his teachings in the lecture to my students.

Quote, to sit long in one posture, pouring over a book, or driving a quill is in itself a taxing of nature. But add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair, end quote. So So you don't wanna listen to me. Listen to Charles Spurgeon. Yeah?

I agree with him. This is not off base. This is not some fringe thing. This is biblical. Are those are those who take extremities with their bodies and do so at the expense of their spirituality?

100%, you can idolize your body. Spirituality, 100% you can idolize your body. And I'll tell you this, no matter how well you eat, no matter what kind of pills you take, we're all terminal. So you can go overboard and you can over obsess. We're not talking about that.

This is basic food. This is a cake and this is water and a good sleep. Some of you parents know what happens to your children when they don't get good sleep. Right? Little children.

We think that changes as we grow up. So counselors, Christian friends who love others and want to be with those in the battle against the flesh and sin and Satan, have you ever included that in your counsel? Have you ever asked somebody who's been in perpetual state of weird thinking and pessimism? Hey. Do you sleep well?

Like, you can't go to bed every night at 3AM with Cheeto stained fingers and think that you're gonna be at your best. It's not gonna happen. So we see here that these four elements are not exhaustive, but they are helpful. Maybe we have overlooked them, especially the last one. But let me remind you of them in closing.

That we are to never forget to keep the sovereignty of God, the goodness of God, the power of God, whatever characteristic or attribute, all of them rather, ever before you. You're also with that to not disconnect from those that God has placed in your life because they are there for your safety, and they are there for your joy, and they are there for your help. You're also supposed to come to a place in which you realize that you have a choice. And, yes, it might take some time to shake it off and to develop a better pattern, but choose to look at what the Lord is doing, the blessings, a spirit of gratitude. If you're not there, you are gonna be more prone to being like Elijah.

And lastly, consider the component of your body, not just your soul. And if you wanna be better with your soul, you're gonna be better with your body. May God give us wisdom in that. I don't wanna end there though. There are many ways to end this, but I wanna end on this thought.

Look at how God treats his servant. This is where we're landing tonight. So you have this man who had seen so much, and yet he acts in such unbelief, and he even makes these crazy, self destructive, God dishonoring requests to be put to death. That's not up to you, Elijah. In fact, you're you're only getting started here in ministry.

You have so much still ahead of you, and this is what you're gonna ask God to do. And you would think that for God to show up and confront Elijah that he would have a different kind of approach. But instead, he sends an angel, and this angel makes him some food and takes care of him. And here's what's so fascinating. Don't you think that's such a menial task for an angel to do?

What a lowly job for this heavenly creature to leave the throne room of heaven, to enter into this world, and to deal with a sporadic, at least at this point, servant of God. What are we to make of this? This is the grace of God. And the grace only becomes more beautiful when you realize that this angel is distinguished. So we read that he's an angel.

Look at verse seven. Maybe you missed it. And the angel of the Lord and the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched them. It's no ordinary angel. Not just one of the myriad of angels that occupy heaven.

We're talking about the angel of the Lord. And we've done past studies to realize and learn that this angel of the Lord is not an angel in the way you envision it and the way cartoons have displayed it. Angel simply means messenger, and the angel of the Lord is in fact God himself. More specifically, the second person of the Godhead, namely the person of Jesus Christ. That changed the scenario for you now.

You know what you have here? You have a theophany. You have the preincarnate Christ personally attending to a weak vessel known as Elijah. Jesus Christ himself coming to the aid of this man and doing what? Preparing a meal for him.

Allowing him to rest and to return and to help him again. You know that verse that says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tell me, he's the same forever. My mind goes to another servant of God who was impatient, filled with guilt and shame, and thought to himself after serving with and for the Lord during a three year period, said I'm going back to fish. And he convinces several others of those core disciples to join him. And while he's in that place of unbelief, while he's in that place of despondency, Jesus Christ, the same one who came to the help of Elijah, shows up on the shore of that beach.

And what does he have prepared for Peter? Breakfast. Have you ever thought about that? God making breakfast for one of his own creatures. For what purpose?

To fellowship with Peter and to restore him. What do we have here? You have Jesus. Not beating on Elijah, not stomping on him for his lack of faith and consistency, but ever so gently and patiently, building him back up. And you see the same heart with another servant in the New Testament among many others.

You might be even here and you've barely made it. You might watch this later because you just stumbled upon it, but you are barely making it in your faith. In fact, you might be hanging by one last thread before you say, I'm I'm done. I'm I'm gonna indefinitely separate myself from ministry, from the church, from even from my Bible, and I'm just gonna figure something out. You know what Christ's heart for you is in this moment?

What you see here. Especially if you're a true servant of God. I'm not talking about those who don't have true faith and and think they can just waltz in this life in rebellion without the Lord doing something about it, if you profess his name at least. I'm talking about those like Elijah. You lived your life for God.

You serve him. You adore him, but just ensnared by weakness. Christ's heart is for you, and he's eager and ready to restore you. Surrender yourself into that revelation. Melt in that kind of a truth.

You have many people who find themselves in such a state of mind, and what keeps them there even more is because they imagine God frowning from heaven saying, after all these bible studies and sermons, this is what you've come to? And with a cold shoulder, he turns his back and waits for you to get it together before he turns his face back. That's not the heart of Christ. Here, you have a man in the wilderness who isolated himself, and who comes to meet him in his isolation? The Lord.

And it's given to us in this word for you and I to take courage that, yes, in this place where your faith is not the most impressive, in fact, it might be insulting. Insulting to others and insulting to the Lord. Christ is there. He's ready. I I hope you see him that way.

If you do, you've made a giant leap towards being free from the very plague that arrested Elijah in this chapter. Let's pray together. Lord, we do look to you with gratitude in our hearts that you seek to equip us in areas that we might even realize we need equipping in. And, Lord, we ask that you give us the ability to uncover what may have been a blind spot. Lord, if we if we do fail to see you and to set you before us at all times, help us do that.

If if we don't value the community of God, help us change in our perspective. If we are, prone to pessimism and we've excused it with our personality or our past traumas, or may all those excuses die tonight. And Lord, if we have if we are those who in our even pursuit of spirituality have neglected the stewardship of our bodies, give us the proper frame of mind and the wisdom to know how to take care of all of who you've made us to be. And, Lord, lastly, we thank you that you shine your heart toward us even in our weakest points. Thank you for the tender mercies of Jesus Christ that you even tucked in this chapter.

So Lord, even as we close tonight and we worship you, may that be ever before us. Realizing that you are you are a caring God. You're willing to stoop down and do what you need to do to help us. And, Lord, you invite us to pour out our hearts to you even when it's the most embarrassing times of our faith. Lord, strengthen our loins tonight.

That's our prayer. We we want the extra grace to go the extra mile. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and worship the lord together.